A Taste Of Honey May 29 2014

CROONER is an American epithet given to male singers of jazz standards either backed by a full orchestra,a big band or simply a piano-it is rarely used to describe female singers and in an interview Frank Sinatra stated that he ‘did not consider himself or ,Bing Crosb crooners’.I could fill hours and hours of programming with crooners as per this definition as there are many and varied,old school and new school personalities coupled with a vast repertoire that lends itself to the foregoing definition.BUT for this particular programme I have limited the tracks to a select group of CROONERS and built it around a small tribute to Jerry Vale(pic.left)who passed away last week at the age of 84.Synonymous with smooth,emotional vocals rooted in his Italian heritage as many of these talented singers were(if they weren’t from Jewish immigrant backgrounds)I have found tracks by Alan Dale,Tony Martin,Frankie Vaughan,Buddy Greco,Vic Damone,Johnny Hartman that are synonymous with the CROONER definition and pretty damn pleasing on the ears too!!!Add in favourites,Dean Martin,Bing Crosby,Nat King Cole,Bobby Darin and there should be standing room only in your place during this 90 minute broadcast.Spare a thought for famous Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto(pic.right)who sold 13 million
COPIES of his No 1 single ‘SUKIYAKI’ only to die tragically in the worlds single largest air disaster in history when the Boeing 747SR crashed in Japan on 12/8/85 with a loss of 520 persons(RIP).So while the charm and the cool of todays crooners has probably brought a huge smile and many memories to Eastside’s female listeners,if the male audience is anything like me,they will enjoy the songs and the style and be crooning ever so casually under their breaths while going about their business,whatever it might be.
To follow the coolness,for the full track list of todays show please go to the programme page and click on ‘A Taste Of Honey’ and follow the prompts-HAPPY CROONING!